ABSTRACT

The frequency and impact of complications depend on various factors including the patient’s morbidity and risk profile, access site morphology, and characteristics of the access route and target vessel segment. These factors define lowrisk, intermediate-risk, and high-risk patients/ interventions, respectively, and define patients who are not suitable for an endovascular approach. The first step to safely perform an intervention therefore is to perform a thorough preintervention non-invasive work-up to classify the patient’s risk and to develop an interventional strategy. Besides patient-associated factors, the performance of the interventionist is the second major determinant to influence the risk for complications. The third important factor is imaging during and after the intervention to recognize potential problems early. Finally, standardized postintervention care and surveillance help to improve patients’ safety.